Walking With His Head Down (I'm The One He's Walking Too)
by SereneCalamity
Summary: Things shift in Jonathan and Steve's relationship. Stonathan. Oneshot.


**So canon, but if canon happened in modern times? Haha. I think these two are just super cute. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or the title, which comes from _Call It What You Want _by Taylor Swift. **

Nancy Wheeler was the first one to leave Hawkins.

Maybe it was because she had lost the most.

They had all lost _something_, but maybe she had taken the biggest hit?

Jim Hopper had lost Joyce Byers, although that had been a long time ago, when they were in high school, but he had gotten her back.

The kids had lost their childhood, but they still had each other, and they had somehow managed to still live in a world where playing D'n'D on Saturday nights was the thing to do.

Joyce and Jonathan Byers had lost Will Byers, but they had him back now.

Steve Harrington had lost his girlfriend, the first love of his life, and yet he had gained a good friend.

Nancy had lost Barbara Holland, and she hadn't gotten her back.

Joyce had lost Bob Newby, and that was something that she was going to be dealing with for a long time, but Bob had been an adult and it had been his decision to put himself in danger, whereas Barb had just been an innocent bystander.

So Nancy was the first to go. Maybe it was because she had lost the most, maybe it wasn't, maybe it was because she just needed to put some space between the craziness that they had dealt with in high school, especially now that things had been calm and quiet for over a year before she had left. Steve hadn't known the full discussion at the time, because although they had been close friends, things had still been a bit raw for them to discuss their love life with him, but he knew that there had been a discussion with Jonathan. He knew that she had asked him to go with her.

Jonathan had said no.

He talked about going to New York or Los Angeles and doing a photography degree, but for now, he needed to stay with his mother and brother.

They had tried to long distance thing for a while, but it hadn't lasted.

Steve wasn't _happy_ about it, they had both ended up being his friends. Probably his best friends, and he had felt bad for them, that it hadn't worked out.

Steve stayed in Hawkins two years after graduating. His dad wanted him to work at his office, but he hadn't wanted to. So he had ended up working with Hopper, actually, helping with filing and sorting. It wasn't glamorous and the pay was shit, but he liked it, and it wasn't as though money was a problem for him anyway. It kept him busy through the day, close with Hopper who he really got along with, and after work and in the weekends he spent it with the kids, and Jonathan. And, surprisingly, sometimes Billy Hargrove, although that wasn't a frequent thing, and he wouldn't call him a _friend_ necessarily, more just like...A sometimes entertaining acquaintance, since the guy was no longer a raging psychopath.

Mostly.

The kids were doing well, Eleven was doing well, Steve wasn't getting nightmares as much and he felt like maybe it was time for him to leave. Not forever, he was pretty sure that he belonged in Hawkins, but he felt he needed to branch out just a little bit.

But he wasn't brave enough to do that by himself.

Which was where Jonathan came in.

It had been a year since Jonathan had graduated, and he was working at the local newspaper. It wasn't something he loved, but it paid okay, and it meant he was able to help pay the bills at his mothers home, so he stuck with it. Steve knew that Jonathan didn't want to just stay here forever, that he did want to get out of Hawkins at some point, but he was worried about leaving his mother and brother behind.

Plus, if Nancy hadn't been enough to get him to leave, Steve really didn't think that he stood a chance.

And yet, a few months later, the pair of them were piling up Steve's silver SUV with their things and heading toward San Francisco. Steve wasn't sure how he had managed to convince Jonathan to leave, but it hadn't really been that hard.

They had been getting a whole lot closer recently, spending almost every weekend together and getting together for dinner and a few drinks as well. When Nancy came back to town for some long weekends and for holidays, it had been awkward at first, because it suddenly felt as though it was _Nancy_ who was third-wheeling, but by the third time, it had gotten better. Jonathan opened up about their break up, and he admitted—somewhere between the fifth and sixth tequila shots—that he actually didn't miss her as much as he thought that he would.

Steve had barely managed to hide his surprised—and relieved—smile, and he had been glad that Jonathan was more drunk than he was. He hadn't quite understood the relief that had coursed through him at that, it was definitely something that he would need to analyze at a _much_ later time.

They made a few steps on the way to San Francisco, not in any rush to get to their destination.

The first night, they stayed in a small room with twin beds, talking until they both fell asleep.

The second night, they went to a bar that was just down the road from their backpackers, and they got so drunk that they could barely walk back. Jonathan had passed out on the couch and Steve had fallen asleep on the ground beside him, thinking something along the lines that he needed to make sure Jonathan didn't choke on his vomit through the night, even though he was barely able to look after himself.

The third day was spent mainly in silence as they recovered from their hangovers, taking turns driving and stopping a number of times for fresh air and greasy food.

That night, they stayed in a nice place. Steve just shoved Jonathan's hands away when he pulled out his card, because he knew that this was going to take a bigger hit to Jonathan than it would be to Steve. Steve only shelled out on a fancier place because they were both still feeling grotty and hungover and he wanted them to stay in a big, clean room with a firm mattress and expensive sheets. Jonathan showered first, taking a _long_ time in there, to the point where Steve actually wondered if he had fallen asleep in there. He walked to the bathroom door, knocking once before opening it.

Jonathan had his back to Steve, one arm braced against the tiled wall as he jacked himself off slowly, the shower spray beating down on his tipped forward head and his shoulders.

Steve stood there for a long time, until Jonathan came with a hiss and a low groan of,

"_Steve_."

Steve didn't even know how to react, his eyes were so wide it felt as though his eyebrows were disappearing into his hairline and his mouth was open.

Finally, he managed to stumble back out and close the door quietly.

He didn't even bother showering that night, getting into bed and rolling over to face the wall, turning off the light on his side of the room. When Jonathan finally came out of the bathroom, he whispered Steve's name, probably to check if he was awake and see if he wanted to take a shower, but when Steve didn't reply, he got into bed and turned off the light and they both fell into darkness and quiet.

Steve wasn't sure what time he fell asleep, but he knew for a fact that it wasn't for hours.

The next day, Jonathan knew that something was wrong, and he asked a couple of times, and Steve felt bad when he just shook his head and shrugged, because he and Jonathan had a good relationship now—a _great_ relationship, where they talked about practically everything. He had never actually had a relationship as steady as the one that he had with Jonathan, and he didn't want to endanger it.

But Steve had started questioning his sexuality a while back, and had even fumbled around with Billy a few times, which worked well for both of them, because there was no friendship to ruin if it turned sour, but they were still familiar with each other, so it wasn't a complete stranger.

The reason he had originally started questioning his sexuality was Jonathan.

Except he never thought that there was a chance that he could _have_ anything with Jonathan like that.

And now, it seemed, he did.

Things were awkward as they drove in San Francisco. This was their destination and this place was meant to be their home and this was supposed to be a big happy moment, but they were just tense and quiet next to each other. The real estate agent that had leased them their place wasn't able to meet them until later that afternoon, so they drove aimlessly for a bit before Steve decided to follow signs leading them to the beach. Jonathan licked his lips and glanced over at Steve as he parked, and Steve flashed him a tight smile before he got out of the car and slammed the door behind him. He got his phone out of his pocket and saw a couple of texts from Dustin, but he swiped them away, making a note to reply to them later.

There was also one from Nancy, just saying that she was checking in, and it made Steve wonder if Jonathan had messaged her about the weirdness between them.

He very purposefully didn't reply to that as he locked his car and slipped his sunglasses off his head and up his nose. Steve shoved his hands into his pockets and began walking out of the car park and toward the beach. He assumed Jonathan was walking behind him, although he didn't look over his shoulder to check as he walked onto the beach and glanced around.

Everything was so bright and sunny and there were girls in bikinis and guys in board shorts and kids in brightly coloured hats and big sunglasses running around. It was so different from Hawkins, that was almost constantly overcast and there definitely wasn't any beach, there was a lake with sand that was always wet and clumpy and filled with stones, but that was about it.

"Long way from Hawkins, huh?" Jonathan said from behind him. He was standing slightly behind him, at his shoulder, and Steve could feel the heat coming off him, given it was early afternoon and the sun was high in the sky and it was the beginning of summer.

"If I kiss you, are you gonna freak out?" Steve asked abruptly. He could feel Jonathan tense up behind him, and Steve didn't have the guts to turn around and face him, so he just kept looking forward, not really taking in the rippling water and the laughter around him, too nervous about what he had just _asked_ without really thinking it through.

"No," Jonathan finally answered, but then he was shifting so that he was standing right up behind Steve. He was a few inches shorter than Steve, and so his next movement should be awkward, but it wasn't. Jonathan put his hands gently on Steve's hips, resting them for a moment, before he continued, sliding his arms around to Steve's front, lacing his fingers together over Steve's stomach and giving him a gentle squeeze. Steve blinked rapidly as Jonathan rested his cheek against Steve's back, leaning his weight against him, and it was so warm and grounding and comforting.

They stood like that for a long time, and Steve was surprised that no one really gave them a second look. He knew this was the twenty-first century and people in general should really be more accepting when it came to same sex relationships, but he had only ever lived in Hawkins, and Mike Wheeler and Will Byers got stern looks from older people whenever they so much as _held hands_. But they were somewhere else now, and this wasn't what he should be focusing on.

Jonathan was _holding_ him.

Jonathan had his arms _wrapped around him_.

Jonathan had said that _he wouldn't freak out if Steve kissed him_.

But Steve didn't turn around and try to make a move. He just let himself settle against Jonathan, sharing one anothers body heat underneath the afternoon sun, feeling Jonathan's arms tighten around him and keep him locked safely between them. He wasn't sure how long they stayed like that, but they ended up being called by the real estate agent who had some kind of connections with Steve's father and was waiting for them with the key to their new rental.

Their first kiss didn't come as quickly as Steve expected, but that was okay.

Things progressed naturally for them as they set up their new apartment—their _home_—and got themselves settled. Jonathan's classes started a week after they got there, and Steve's dad had lined him up with a job at the bank. Jonathan loved his classes, while Steve bailed out of the job at the bank after just two weeks and started working at a bar that was right next to the beach. The pay wasn't as good, but it wasn't as though Steve didn't have his dad's credit card for when they got stuck in a jam, and Jonathan was working as well, if only part time.

They had separate bedrooms, although they mainly alternated between them, hardly ever spending a night alone. They also fell asleep in the lounge a lot, when Jonathan was up late editing his photos and Steve got home from work around three in the morning, spelling like beer and cigarettes.

Three weeks after that hug on the beach, they kissed.

Steve initiated it, when they were laying in his bed, on top of his covers, watching a movie on his laptop. Jonathan's lips were softer than he expected, although he had been staring at them at practically every chance he got and thought that he had figured just how they would feel. He was wrong, and they had felt even better.

Jonathan had moved pretty confidently, returning the pressure and then pushing gently at Steve's shoulders, forcing him to fall back down, shoulders firmly to the mattress and had rolled on top of him. They didn't do anything more than kiss, but they were both hard in their sweatpants, Jonathan rolling his hips down on Steve's. It wasn't as though either of them would have stopped things from progressing any further, but they were both just happy to kiss and explore one anothers mouths and hands running up and down one anothers bodies. They kissed until their lips were swollen and their eyes were heavy and they both knew that they really needed to go to sleep.

Jonathan slept behind Steve, an arm wrapped tightly around his middle, their bodies pressed close together. Steve had never been little spoon before, and he liked it.

Well, he was pretty sure he would like anything that Jonathan did.

Throughout the weekends, when they had free time—so not Saturday evenings, since Steve was working, or Sunday morning, when they were both sleeping in—they did all the tourist spots. The Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz Island, Madame Tussauds Wax Museum, Chinatown, the Legion of Honor—the list went on. After the first couple of months, they stopped going to the big, flashy places and started finding smaller places in their travels.

The kids back home were jealous of the snapchats that Steve sent back, mainly to Dustin, and the proper photographs that Jonathan emailed once they were uploaded onto his old laptop.

Nancy came out to visit them one holiday, and Steve and Jonathan hadn't even thought about it as they told her she could have Steve's room and they would both sleep in Jonathan's. It wasn't until she arrived and realized the sleeping situation that she had raised an eyebrow, and they clicked that they really hadn't told anyone back home about their change in relationship. It wasn't that they were trying to hide it, it was just that it never really came out.

The people that Steve worked with definitely knew Jonathan was his boyfriend.

The people that Jonathan interacted with in his photography classes knew that Steve was his boyfriend.

It was just the people back _home_ didn't know.

_Nancy_ hadn't known until after she had brought plane tickets to come out and see them.

But when she got there, and she spotted them holding hands in the airport, a smile had broken out over her face as she had thrown her arms around both of them. Jonathan seemed so relieved he had slumped against Steve's side to support his weight.

Nancy stayed for four nights, and on the last night, they went and got _ridiculously_ drunk, and she had brought a ridiculously tall, tanned guy back to their apartment. She had just pulled the fingers when Steve had told her to make sure they didn't ruin anything in his bedroom, but that was then the last thing on his mind when Jonathan slammed his bedroom door shut and had pushed Steve onto his back, wrestling with his pants, trying to get them off.

They had all been _very_ hungover the next day.

It was a few weeks later that they went to the beach, near the end of the day, when the sun was setting. The water was too cold to swim in, but there were still a lot of people on the beach, some children running to the edge of the water, dipping their toes in before running away screaming. There were dogs running free and Jonathan was catching the idyllic scene with his camera.

Steve found himself somewhere to sit down, taking off his shoes and socks and burying his feet in the sand while Jonathan kept on walking. His focus was completely on his camera, not paying any attention to some of the looks that were being send his way.

Since leaving Hawkins, he had become a lot more comfortable with himself, and he wasn't wearing oversized jeans and tee-shirts anymore. He actually wore jeans that fitted him, showing off his slim legs and cute ass, as Steve put it, and the shirts he wore no longer just hung off his shoulders. He also didn't always wear a jacket as well that swallowed him up. _And_ he cut his hair. It was still shaggy, but it didn't hang in his eyes anymore, and it wasn't quite as long as it had been before.

And the fact he was more comfortable showed in the way he walked, with his shoulders pushed back, no longer hunched, and his stride was more confident.

Steve had zoned out a little when he heard a bark from a dog and he blinked as he saw that Jonathan was heading back in his direction. The setting sun had painted the sky with burnt oranges and bright reds, and it was a beautiful backdrop as Jonathan fiddled with his camera, walking slowly back in his direction, toward Steve.

Steve smiled, getting to his feet, holding his shoes in one hand as Jonathan tipped his camera to the side, swiping his finger over the little screen before finally jerking his head up to look at Steve.

A smile spread across his face as well.

"You ready to head home?" Steve asked as Jonathan reached him.

"Yeah," Jonathan murmured, nudging Steve's arm until Steve moved it over his shoulders. He reached up pressing soft kisses against Steve's jaw before Steve tipped his head down and brought their lips together. The kiss was short and sweet, and they were both smiling when they pulled away. "Let's go home."

**Let me know what you think x**


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